Call it "intuition," call it a "gut feeling"—either way the U.S. Office of Naval Research wants to train soldiers to harness their inner-Spidey Sense and improve their chances of getting out of battle alive and intact.

The year is 2019. The destroyer U.S.S. Mason patrols enemy waters, and is suddenly faced with a barrage of incoming missiles. Almost instantly, dozens of brightly colored lasers beam out of the Mason, intercepting the missiles and destroying them harmlessly in the air. Then a massive deck-mounted gun turns and takes…